Home > News > Research > Preqin: Hedge Funds Bounce Back in April
Research

Preqin: Hedge Funds Bounce Back in April

While most strategies recovered, liquid alternatives struggled for the third month in a row.

By Chris Butera

Hedge funds made a recovery from a negative previous two months, returning 0.91% in April on the Preqin All-Strategies benchmark.

After a strong January (up 1.92%), returns dipped into the red in February (-0.92%) and March (-0.63%).

Top-level strategies such as equity, multi-strategy, and macro were all in the black in April, with event-driven strategies boasting 1.19% growth for the month. The year-to-date return on event strategies is 1.48%, according to Preqin.

Funds of funds and CTAs also pulled hedge funds from the pits to kick off Q2, with commodities returning 0.76% and funds of funds bringing in 0.28%.

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European and North American hedge funds did well, with the overseas funds up 1.65% percentage points—the benchmark’s best monthly return since 2016. North American funds, while not as strong as their European counterparts, were no slouch as they were up 1.04% for the month.

Preqin did find a few struggles, however, with liquid alternatives. The firm reported UCITS and alternative mutual funds could not generate positive returns to start off the new quarter as the former was flat at zero while the mutual funds trailed by a sliver, losing nine basis points. April marks the third month these two sectors have failed to produce positive results.

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Home > News > Risk > Aviva, Phoenix Take On $2 Billion of Marks and Spencer’s Pension Liabilities
Risk

Aviva, Phoenix Take On $2 Billion of Marks and Spencer’s Pension Liabilities

The two insurers can take on more of the UK retailer’s obligations if needed.

By Chris Butera

The Marks and Spencer’s pension plan has moved nearly $2 billion of its pension liabilities to insurers Aviva and Phoenix.

With the £1.4 billion debt sale, the British retailer is following the trend of companies looking to de-risk as economists and institutional investors continue to project warnings of an economic downturn in the near future. The company currently has about £9 billion in liabilities, according to its latest triennial valuation. The pensions being transferred are calculated according to employees’ final salaries to the insurers.

By using economies of scale and investing while using actuarial expertise to match assets closer to liabilities, the insurance providers can run the pensions and life policies at a cheaper rate, Reuters reports.

In its biggest bulk-annuity deal to date, Aviva recently bought out £925 million of the British retail company’s defined benefit pension liabilities, says the news service. Phoenix recently closed its first bulk-annuity deal at £470 million.

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The two insurers have set up plans that allow them to tackle more of Marks and Spencer’s debt if needed, according to Reuters.

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